Bag holding and dispensing rack



July 4, 195o c. L. GREER BAG HOLDING AND DISPENSING RACK Filed NOV. 18, 1946 v B l2 7 l: D

In uelltor Charles L. Greer By @Mm Patented July 4, 19,50

UNITE-o STATES PATENT oFFlcE Charles L. Greer, Knoxville, Tenn. Application November 18, 1946, Serial No. 710,606

This invention is a paper bag holding and dispensing rack expressly constructed and designed to conveniently harness and contain a batch or stack of standard-type grocery store commodity bags, the latter being held in a manner to permit same to be withdrawn one-by-one, with one hand, for ready use.

One object of the invention is to position and confine the batch or pack of bags with their lower or closed ends down in said rack and their upper or mouth ends sitting up, the usualnotches or cut-outs in the front panels facing outwardly and toward the user, whereby to ready each successive bag for vconvenient grasping and withdrawal from the rack. y

Another object of the invention is to provide a 3 claims. (o1. al1-5o) simple and practical rack which has means at its Y upper end for hooking over and releasably retaining the rear panels or sides of the bags in such a manner that the notch or cut-out in theN front panels is accessibly free for insertion of a human nger, making it easy to grab a bag and pull it-forwardly and outwardly, said means momentarily checking and retarding the rear panel and causing it to lag Ibehind the front panel, this so that, as the bag isyanked from the rack, the mouth is opened. Thus, with the mouth so conditioned the bag is ipped in the air and air trapped therein to completely open said bag for quick filling in an obvious manner.

A further object is to combine with the mouth opening feature, additonal friction check means which acts simultaneously as a brake against and in the infolded longitudinal edge foldsto spread and vpartly expand said folds, this at the transverse center of each bag, and in such afmanner as to further assist in the automatic opening step of said bags. l

Another object of the invention has to do with anfopen Work rack in which the bags are stacked in orderly fashionior ready access and removal, i

said rack embodying so-called automatic means for partially opening the bags, one phase of the means co-acting with the open mouth of the bag, and another aspect thereofy co-acting with the infolded longitudinal edges, there being a projection in the rack which is adapted to poke into adjacent portions of the pack of bags to bend and flex the latter, to serve as a sort of fulcrum element and to put transverse portions of the bags under tension to provide the desired followup action and proper functioning of the bag opening devices. Y

A; further object of `the invention is to provide abag holdingv rack inmthe form of an openwork frame,rsaid frame beingk made up of two principal horizontal and vertical units, both units being of general y being extensible for adjustment purposes.

@there objectsv v-features and -advantages will U-shaped form, the vertical unit become more readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying illustrative drawings.

tion and elevation, view of the adjustable partv of the main U-shaped unit.

Figure 4 is a cross-section on vthe'plane of the line 4-4 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the frame or rack in terms of generalities, it will be seen that kit is characterized by. an adequate open-work frame struc- A `ture for the reception of a stack or pack of bags,

these being of the ordinary grocery store variety, the mouth ends of the bagsbeing disposed upwardly and the-reinforced bottom or base portions disposed in an opposite or down- :ward direction. Automatic means is incorporated to partly open the bags. That is to say, means is at the top of the rack for engaging the mouth portions of the bags as they come out one-by-one, the means serving to exert a slight 35 fpdrag on the inner wall or panel of the bag as if the outer wall is pulled, by hand, from the rack. This starts the mouth of the bag to open. Then, and progressively as the second step, the intermediate longitudinal edge portions, the portions which are folded in as usual, are acted upon by ymeans incorporated in the rack, which means serve to function somewhat as a dragging brake which hooks into the fold as the fold is being pulled out, thus delaying the action sufficiently long to spread and partly expand both folds. It

follows that as the bag is grasped and withdrawn with one hand, it is then ready to be yanked` and swirled into the air in thecustomaryfashion to permit same to be blown into iniiatedform.

`Means is provided at the bottom of the'rack for supporting the bottom portions of the bags and means is provided on the upper central portionI to put the bags under a'requisite degree of tension.

LThe principal U-shaped unit, the vone .which is vertically disposed is of an extensible and retractible or adjustable character and embodies an L-shaped lower portion or section '6, this embodying a limb 1 which is adapted to be secured .toy a suitable support byscrews or the. like numeral.` E0.

3 8. There is a laterally and outwardly inclined limb 9 at the bottom which terminates in an up-bent keeper-hook lil for the lower or base portions Aof the paper, bags. B. A shorter L-shaped part )Il is provided as the upper portion of the frame and this includes a Vertical limb l2 which is slotted at i3 and bolted as at I4 to said limb '1. There is an overhanging and outstanding limb l5 at the topwhich ends in-` .v

a retaining and trip finger for the mouthporf tions of the bags, said finger comprising a de` pending lug l forming an appropriate detent and trip element. The limb 'l is providedwith .l a fulcruming prong or equivalent means which is generally denoted by the numeral Il.

This comprises a simple prong `l which stands' out as shown in Figure'2 and which has a laterally bent inner vend I8 riveted to the' limb?. 'The'v i remaining U-shaped unit or section,r the None which ishorzontally disposed, is denoted bythe This comprises a cross limb-2l which isriveted central ly in placel as at 22' and which has outstandingend portions 23 terminat-l ing inv out-turned U-bends Ziwhich may beregarded 'as drag or brake shoes 2B."

In vorder to 'appreciate the signicance offthe various elements which go to make up the over#- -allframe or rack, it is desirable to point out the essential characteristics thereof. Thatfistosay, l

the limb l of the adjustable L-bracket H over'- 4. iicient to clarify the construction of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

Minor changes in shape, size, materials and rearrangement of `parts may be resortedl to in actual practice so long as no departure is made from the invention as claimed.

What is claimed is:

l. A bag holding rack comprising a main yU-shapecl vertically disposed unit, the upper limb thereof terminating in a depending detent, the

lower limb thereof being downwardly and out-k wardly inclined'and terminating in an upstanding lreeperehook, an outstanding prong on the intermediate portion of said unit, a second unit fastened at right angles to the intermediate portien` of the rst named unit and having outstanding endv portions perpendicular to said second unit` terminating in `Ushapfed bends, the bight portions of 'the latter beingV directed inwardly toward eachother.

2. A vpaper bag holding and dispensing f raclr` of the vclass describedcompris'ing 4a crueiform frame structure embodying i a vvertically disposed relatively longA U4-shaped unit and a complemental"v lrelativelyshort horizontally disposed U-shaped 'Y unit, saidui-iitsy leaving their centraly portionsfdisf posedinfcrossed relation andsecurely rivete'dtogether; said long unit being longitudinally eX- hangsv the 'moutlrv portions ofy the bags, 'that is whenl the `bags fare correctly stacked y in the racl;`

as shown forexample in-Figures l and 2. W'hat is more, the;detent vit on the outer'iend pro` gressivelyV and successivelyV is hooked `downpver the intermediate areas of the innerer rear panel C of the .bag` This` permits the iinger-notch-or cut-out D inthe front panel or wall E tobe free of connection `with said detent It also provides?-v an `arrangement in rwhichthe vhumarringer may be readilyhookedand inserted intojthe bag by way of the linger notch D soithat'thejoutwardL pulling'stepmay lbe initiated. Due to thel fact that the prong lpresses'against the intermediate portions of the bags; it exerts a thrust action,V

AS the jbagsjon opposite sides of the prod or prongthereagainst andgbends or bows the bags.

are temporarilyranchored in the frame structure, they are thus placed under tension andi the clesired follow-upand follow-through'resultsv lare attained. It is thought, too, thatthe prong 'lg serves as a sort of a fulcrum to assist in removal j of the .bags ,inY step-by-step fashion. Assuming that fa bag has been withdrawn as shown'to the right `in Figure 2, `that is, the upper portion has beenY grasped and pulled out, it is obvious that the drag.action of the., detent l0 agailfistfthe.`

inner Wall.. causesl the mouth' ofthe bag to. beV

partly opened."H Then, as the bagis gradually l yankedtdownwardly and then outwardly, the.

hook-like bendslZIl snap intothe iniolds orfolded portions F as lshown in Figure 4,thus producing a momentary drag or brake action and partly spreadingand` expanding the fold. So, rst the mouth' of the bag is opened, then thefolds are spread and partly opened... By continuingithi's one-handed action and pulling the bag out partly opened and swooping itdown and Vthrough lthe air,.it is inflatedinan obvious manner, and then" readyffor llingg" A careful-consideration of the foregoing description'in conjunction with the invention asV illustrated iny thedr'awings will enable the readerA to obtainfa clean-understanding and impression of the alleged `features of-merit and novelty suf 4tensible andl retractable so that itmay be ad# justed to accommodate bags vof 'varying lengths andfembodyingmeans for releasably engagingraimfsojf the short lU-s'h'aped Aunit being in a plane upperand `lower end-u portions 'of bags, the

perpendicular to saidl central portion and termin2 tactand bend portions of said bags.

3. A bag` holding rack comprising a main U-shaped vertically disposed unit, the upper limb thereof vterminatingr in a depending detent, the

REFERENCES CITED The following referencesA are of recordin the n file ofthis patent:

NITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 370,563 Simmons Sept. 27, 1887 Y 812,634 BrownI Feb. v 13, 1906 878,473 Thomas Feb. 4, 1908 v 904,080 Orin Nov. 1'7,vv 1908 1,070,169 Ott Aug.12, 1913 1,071,428 Jones- Aug. 26, 191s 1,094,511 Armor et a1. ADI'. '28,1914 1,205,747 Kawate NOV. 21', 1916 1,627,350 stemmen '1 Mayy 3, 1927 2,124,7ao Y Keppler et a1. Ju1'y 26; 1933` 2,302,188-- Carrier NOV.*17,194'2 ting in vlJ-bendsI forming drag shoes, thebight' onsof said U-bends being directed inwardly towardeach other and beingV engageable with" longitiidina-l edge portions ofthe bfag's,` and rigidY thrust means mounted von the longf unit in ak plane ,above-said' U-bendsand` adapted to con- 

